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Rating: I've guiltily just realized that DeBaser is missing a review of the "best album" (at least that's how it's defined almost everywhere) by Phish, the little-known (in Europe) "Picture of Nectar". Had I known, I would have started my career as a De-reviewer with this one. But oh well, it's done now.
The album in question was released in 1992, and it is the third in the discography of the American jam band and perhaps the one that best represents them from all points of view. Before reaching this masterpiece, Phish had self-produced three albums exclusively on cassette (the first two were not officially released during the production years, but only later after gaining notoriety) and only one entirely official album, "Lawn Boy", which is thus considered by many as their actual debut.
If this "first" album, as already well illustrated in a DeBaserian review, already represents a great record with strong progressive shades blended with American folk tradition, its successor better embodies in every way the soul of Phish to follow from there on: the album is indeed a mix of genres and styles that make it nearly impossible to simply categorize and is also one of the few studio albums by this group that conveys the same strength and attitude that have made them one of the most highly regarded live acts ever.
The lack of a guiding thread and the courage to include in a purely pop-oriented album recorded in the studio songs that are very short or very long (ranging from the 40 seconds of "Catapult" to over 8 minutes of "Tweezer") have surely been rewarded by an exceptional result upon listening and analysis.
The album is captivating, melodic, listenable, and light, and at the same time, it is cultured, elaborate, technical, and interesting from any viewpoint one might observe it. If the emotional framework may seem a bit "frivolous," focused almost entirely on cheerful, humorous, and ironic contents (and partly autobiographical), the technical aspect can only attract applause and praise: the only criticism would be the noticeable heterogeneity of the material, but accusing a "jam band" of this would be like accusing water of being wet.
The tracks on the album are all remarkable and in the same way, there is no presence of fillers: it starts with the aggressive "Llama", featuring hard rock sounds applied to a track between bluegrass and country, continuing with a series of memorable pieces, many of which, 18 years and about a dozen albums later, still make up the core of Phish's concerts.
Absolutely noteworthy are "Cavern", "Guelah Papyrus", "Stash", and "Chalk Dust Torture", all four fast and lively tracks that alternate southern rock, country, funk, South American rhythms, and psychedelic-progressive diversions; similarly, "Eliza", a beautiful jazzy-pop exercise, "Glide", and "Poor Heart" are not to be overlooked, these being ironic revisitations of American vocal groups (to the "I Re Acuti" of Simpsons fame, for instance) and the less pretentious country.
The gems, however, are certainly "Tweezer" and "Tweezer Reprise", two furious rock jams that would make any other rock group of the last 20 years pale in comparison for inspiration, technical, executive, and compositional skills, and especially for the ability to engage and not bore for even 10 seconds of the total over 11 minutes duration of the two tracks, forming the basis from here on out of virtually all the live performances by Anastasio & Co. with performances often exceeding 20 minutes, indicating that the studio duration is absolutely not an end in itself, but rather well compressed and structured.
Before I finish, a nod to the production: the recording is good, the sounds are all well recognizable and dynamic, with very saturated sounds that recall the '70s, especially in the guitar sound, which sometimes is a bit too dominant over the rest of the instrumentation that would deserve more for the excellent level of the band's components. Especially the rhythm section could be more "pumped up" at times, at least to my taste. As for the cover, the depiction is that of an orange (or in any case an orange peel that resembles it closely) with extremely saturated colors. Perfectly matched to the group's "fresh", "lysergic", and "sunny" music, but not sweet and mellifluous.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Llama (03:32)
Sunrise over the turquoise mountains
Messenger birds in sight
They came up through the valley
Both sides at a time
Through the cold steady rain
Raid!
I bend down
Poke a double decker on a llama
Taboot
Llama, Taboot Taboot
Trigger a blastoplast, ramshackle laker recedes
I start to run
It was the loudest thing I'd ever heard
And I knew my time had come
To enter the delta
Leave it on press [2x]
Depress, Depress
Llama, Taboot Taboot
Leave it on press
Depress, Depress
Llama, Taboot Taboot
Llama, Taboot Taboot
Llama, Taboot Taboot
Taboot Taboot
Taboot Taboot
Taboot
03 Cavern (04:24)
Your time is near, the mission's clear
It's later than we think
Before you slip into the night
You'll want something to drink
Steal away before the dawn, and
Bring us back good news
But if you've tread in primal soup
Please wipe it from your shoes
Just then a porthole pirate
Scouraged the evening with his cry
And sanctuary bigs deprived
A monkey of its thigh
A dust arose and clogged my nose
Before I could blink twice
Despite the scut that bubbled up
I gave some last advice:
The flesh from Satan's dogs
Will make the rudiments of gruel
Deduct the carrots from your pay
You worthless swampy fool
Exploding then through fields and few
And swimming in the mire
The septic maiden's gargoyle tooth
Demented me with fire
I drifted where the current chose
Afloat upon my back
And if perchance a newt slimed by
I'd stuff it in my sack
Soon I felt a bubble form,
Somewhere below my skin
But with the handy spine of hedgehog
I removed the force within
Suzie then removed her mask
And caused a mighty stir
The angry crowd responded
Taking turns at grabbing her
The foggy cavern's musty grime
Appeared within my palm
I snatched Rick's fork to scrape it off
With deadly icy calm
The crowd meanwhile had taken Sue
And used her like a rag
To mop the slime from where the slug
Had slithered with the bag
In summing up, the moral seems
A little bit obscure...
Give the director a serpent deflector
A mudrat detector, a ribbon reflector
A cushion convector, a picture of nectar
A virile disector, a hormone collector
Whatever you do take care of your shoes
04 Poor Heart (02:44)
You won't steal my poor heart again
You won't steal my poor heart again
You won't steal my tape recorder
I'll call the Lord and he'll put you in the pen
You won't steal that thing again
I didn't even know your name or what was your game
But stealin' things has sure brought you to fame
I wanna know if you stole mine
It was one of a kind and I'm sayin' if you're to blame
Your life will never be the same
I can't track you anymore
Detective work has sure become a bore
So tell me what you did with it
And stop this shit, give up yourself
Before they come knockin' at your door
You won't steal my poor heart again
You won't steal my poor heart again
When I feel the blade of that Cupid sword
I'll call the Lord and he'll put you in the pen
You won't steal that thing again
You won't steal my poor heart again
05 Stash (07:11)
I'm pulling the pavement from under my nails
I brush past a garden, dependent on whales
The sloping companion I cast down the ash
Yanked on my tunic and dangled my stash
Zipping through the forest with the curdling fleas
To grow with them spindles, the mutant I seize
I capture the dread beast who falls to his knees
And cries to his cohorts, asleep in the trees
Smegma, dogmatagram, fishmarket stew
Police in a corner, gunnin' for you
Appletoast, bedheated, furblanket rat
Laugh when they shoot you, say "Please don't do that"
Control for smilers can't be bought
The solar garlic starts to rot
Was it for this my life I sought?
Maybe so and maybe not (Maybe so and maybe not) (4x)
Was it for this my life I sought? (Maybe so and maybe not)
Control for smilers can't be bought (Maybe so and maybe not)
The solar garlic starts to rot (Maybe so and maybe not)
Was it for this my life I sought? (Maybe so and maybe not) (4x)
06 Manteca (00:29)
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my, Crab in my, Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my shoemouth
Crab in my, Crab in my, Crab in my shoemouth
07 Guelah Papyrus (05:22)
Aboard a craft bereft of oar I rowed upstream to find Lenore
Abducted by a bandit, or a king from some forgotten war
And mindful of his larval craze, the rhinotropic micro-gaze
Ignored it, and to my amazement, rode to Paris in twelve days
This is the work of the Guelah Papyrus
Stranded for a moment on the ocean of Osyrus
Absorbing all she can for every member of her clan
Expanding exponentially like some recursive virus
She take me on, I never fail to ride on the redundant rail
'Cause when I know she's switched a track, there's always one to take me back
And through the bedroom door intrude, a fretful frown and spoil the mood
'Cause though I never really stand that tall, she tilt my frame, she watch me fall
This is the work of the Guelah Papyrus
Stranded for a moment on the ocean of Osyrus
Absorbing all she can for every member of her clan
Expanding exponentially like some recursive virus
...So maybe I could be a fly, and feed arachnid as I die,
And view the ritual from within the silken tunnel that they spin
10 Glide (04:13)
And we're glad glad glad that you're alive
And we're glad glad glad that you'll arrive
And we're glad glad glad glad glad glad glad
And we're glad glad glad that you're a glide
11 Tweezer (08:42)
Won't you step into the freezer
Seize her with a tweezer
Won't you step into the freezer
Tease her with a tweezer
It's gonna be cold cold cold cold cold (4x)
Won't you step into the freezer
Please her with a tweezer
Won't you step into the freezer
Please her with a tweezer
It's gonna be cold cold cold cold cold (4x)
Look who's in the freezer
Uncle Ebenezer
13 Chalk Dust Torture (04:36)
Come stumble my mirth beaten worker
I'm Jezmund the family berzerker
I'm bought for the price of a flagon of rice
The wind buffs the cabin
You speak of your life
Or more willingly Locust the Lurker
Confuse what you can of the ending
And revise your despise so impending
'Cause I soak on the wrath
That you didn't quite mask
I'm getting it clearly through alternate paths
Or mixed in with the signal you're sending
But who can unlearn all the facts that I've learned
As I sat in their chairs and my synapses burned
And the torture of chalk dust collects on my tongue
Thoughts follow my vision and dance in the sun
All my vasoconstrictors they come slowly undone
Can't this wait till im old?
Can't I live while I'm young?
But no peace for Jezmund tonight
I plug the distress tube up tight
And watch what I say as it flutters away
And all this emotion is kept harmless at bay
Not to educate somebody's fright
But who can unlearn all the facts that I've learned
As I sat in their chairs and my synapses burned
And the torture of chalk dust collects on my tongue
Thoughts follow my vision and dance in the sun
All my vasoconstrictors they come slowly undone
Can't this wait till im old?
Can't I live while I'm young?
15 Catapult (00:32)
(Doctor Davis, telephone please...Doctor Davis, telephone please)
I'd catapult downtown
To see the galleries
And my favorite fiancee
In a lavender gown
But I'm hooked up to a machine
It performs my daily functions
Through a tube in my wien
And today that thing malfunctioned
Like a forest fire
It burnt a hole in me and I perspired
So there ain't gonna be a wedding
No love affair
No art to which none compares
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